Family
by Psycho Babble
Summary: Family is all important to some people...
1. Default Chapter

Family  
  
I was a good hacker/program writer, but at the moment that was probably the farthest thing from my mind, I skated past students and teachers alike as I rushed to get out the door.  
  
"Miss Anderson, you are in enough trouble. Stop right now!" The shrill voice of Ms. DeMarco called out. I shook my head at the irony, what DeMarco had said was true, I had probably broken every rule they had in this school and had been suspended more times than I can remember, I'd also probably be in detention until I graduated in two months time. It didn't bother me, Mom had died years ago and Dad spent most of his time trying to find the end of the whiskey bottle, everytime I got in trouble he didn't even seem to notice. About four years ago I had gotten into trouble for hacking into the school computers to change someone else's records, but of course I got caught. So I wasn't really surprised when I got called to the principals office, instead of Dad sitting there in a drunken stupor, my brother was there and he didn't look very happy. The principal had spent the entire time, telling him about all the stuff I'd done and asking him why Dad had never called to find out what was going on, after all the phonecalls and messages, etc, etc. After he was finished his tirade school was finished and most of the others had gone home, my brother didn't say anything to me until we were in his car, then he turned to me.  
  
"You've been doing this sort of stuff for ages now and this is the first time anyone's actually gone in to talk about it?" He asked. I shrugged my shoulders.  
  
"Yeah, well Dad keeps trying to break yesterdays record of how much he can drink in an hour, and she never answers the phone anyway. Do you know how far back with the rent she is? I had to do something to get money, otherwise we're gonna be living on the streets, and he doesn't care." I replied. He looked at me closely then and I knew that he'd seen my healing eye.  
  
"Where'd you get that?" He asked, I could hear the concern in his voice. I shrugged my shoulders again, this time ducking my head to avoid his eyes.  
  
"Hit my head on a press door." I said quietly. He put his hand on my shoulder and I winced away from him, he stopped for a moment, then pulled the shoulder of my sweater back, revealing the purpling bruise that decorated my whole back.  
  
"And this? He did them both to you didn't he?" He said. For a moment I was going to shake my head, but then I nodded, as tears dripped down my face. We had never been that close; as almost ten year separated us, but now he pulled me into his arms and I sobbed on his shoulder.  
  
"You got any stuff that you need to get?" He asked. I looked at him confused for a moment.  
  
"You don't think that I'm going to leave you at home with him do you? You're coming to stay with me." He said. And that's exactly what happened. But now Tommy was gone, and as a minor I wasn't allowed to live on my own, so I was sent back to live with Dad and once again I became his punching bag.  
  
Trouble, yeah I had a habit of getting into a lot of that.  
  
"Sure, then I'll disappear like Scanner." I muttered, a month ago the same guys had come to school looking for my only friend; Scanner, they had taken him away and no one had seen him again. I'd searched for him, but not only could I not find him, but I couldn't find anything that suggested that he'd ever existed. When I called to his house his parents had acted like they didn't know who I was talking about. The stairs was coming up quickly, I leaped up and my rollerblades came down on the banisters, DeMarco stood near to the end of the stairs and she seemed to be changing into one of the men that had been chasing me, he reached out a hand to grab me as I shot past, but I lashed out with one foot and hit him in the chest. Then I was out the door, the school was at the top of a steep hill and I picked up speed as I went down it, at the same time pulling out my mobile and laptop, they used to be Tommy's, but now I used them. I plugged the phone into the computer as I ducked down a side street. Please be on! I thought desperately. Within moments I was in the chatroom, but there was only one person in there.  
  
Black Lady: Have u seen neo in here?  
  
Tank: Do u have a problem, BL?  
  
I started typing again, hell it wasn't like it could get any worse.  
  
B.L: Yes, but u prolly wouldn't believe me if I told u the truth.  
  
Tank: u might b surprised my what I no, does it have something to do with men in suits that can move from person to person?  
  
I stared at the screen for a moment, how did he know could he be one of them? No, I decided, he'd hardly say it if he was.  
  
B.L: Yes, they were all over the place, and they move faster than anything I've ever seen b4 what the hell is going on?  
  
There was a pause before and then someone else came into the chatroom.  
  
Morpheus: For that you'll have to see more than you might want to. Are you willing to do that?  
  
B.L: If it will get these creeps of my ass, Ill go any  
  
The screen exploded in her face, her head swung around to stare at the two men who had followed her into the alley. Of course I would have to pick a dead end! I thought. I turned to face them. They weren't even moving towards me; they just stood there. A very short list of escape options ran through my head, then I ran right at them, picking up speed, just as I got really close to them I jumped and snagged the overhanging firescape ladder above them, landing behind them I kept going.  
  
On the Neb, Morpheus swung around to face Tank.  
  
"What happened to her?" He asked.  
  
"She just left, she'll be back in a minute." He glanced at another monitor.  
  
"Wait, she's on the run, two agents are chasing her. You're going in." It was more a statement than a question, Neo and Trinity had just joined them, Tank loaded them all in, a moment later they all stood by a ringing phone on the same street as the person they were looking for, who was bearing down on them, behind me were the two agents, I didn't stop, until someone caught my arm as I flashed past them. Then I looked at him.  
  
"I realise that it's been a while, Tommy. But in case you didn't notice I got a little problem." I said, jerking a thumb back over my shoulder.  
  
"But if you want to take them on, be my guest." The agents who had been chasing me took one look at Neo and fled. I stared after them then at Neo.  
  
"How'd you do that?" I asked, he turned and pulled me into a hug, after a moment he pulled back.  
  
"You ready now?" He asked, I nodded and we followed the other two who led us toward an old looking black car, I got into the back with Tommy, almost as soon as we were inside he started asking me questions.  
  
"What happened after I left?" He said.  
  
"Those people at whatever department, decided to send me back to live with dad. I ran away from there about a month ago." I replied. He cursed.  
  
"I'm sorry I had to leave in a hurry, I didn't have a chance to go back for you." He said. I shrugged my shoulders, as if it was no matter, but if I was to be honest I felt like he'd abandoned me to the wolves. I wondered what he'd say if I told him that dad started doing other stuff besides beating the shit out of me. I said nothing about it, as the car pulled up to a building and we got out, then they both left me alone with Morpheus.  
  
"I'm going to make this simple, because we don't have much time. The red pill will show you the real world, the blue pill means you go back to your ordinary everyday life." He said, I snatched the red pilled and swallowed it before I could change my mind. He nodded smiling.  
  
"Follow me." He said. He led me into as room, where Tommy and Trinity had set up loads of equipment, half of which I couldn't identify. Tommy sat me down in a chair and stuck some pads on me; I looked up at him a little apprehensive.  
  
"You did this?" I asked, he smiled down at me.  
  
"Yes, Don't worry, it's just so that we can find you easier." He said.  
  
"What the hell does that mean?!" I asked, he might have answered me, I'm not sure because I was to busy staring at a cracked mirror, the cracks were fixing themselves. I glanced at the others and was about to ask if they'd seen it, when I stopped to stared at my legs, both looked like they were encased in liquid metal that was working it's way up my body.  
  
"She's going into arrest." Tommy called out. Morpheus had a phone in his and was talking into it rapidly.  
  
"Locked!" Yelled the woman.  
  
"Go, Tank!" Said Morpheus. The last thing I remember hearing is Tommy saying "See you in the real world'. Then I was waking up in a pod of gunk, I struggled my way to the surface, and broke through some kind of membrane covering the pod, there was a tube stuck in my mouth that felt like it went all the way to my stomach, I yanked and pulled trying to get it out, when I eventually did, I started gagging and coughing. Leaning over the edge, I saw pods the same as the one I was in, there was a person in every single one, then some sort of machine flew down in front of me, it grabbed me around the neck, and pulled something out of the back of my head, then the cables in me were pulled from me and a moment later I was sliding down a long pipe, to land in a huge pool of water below, I couldn't swim but I sure as hell didn't want to drown, I tried to move my arms and legs to help me stay afloat, but they wouldn't do what they wanted me to, I slowly sank beneath the surface, that was when a huge metal arm like thing, grabbed me and hauled ma upwards towards a ship that hovered in the air above me. I was pulled inside and a very different looking Tommy grinned at me.  
  
"Welcome to the real world, sis." Was all I heard before I drifted off into unconsciousness. 


	2. Family part 2

Family Part 2  
  
I woke up in a very brightly-lit room, I had to squint my eyes, Tommy and Morpheus stood over the bed I was lying on.  
  
"What's going on?" I whispered. Morpheus looked down at me.  
  
"We're rebuilding your muscles, go back to sleep now. You'll get the answers you're looking for soon." He said.  
  
I woke up in a room, a needle was in a.oh my God was that a hole, in my arm?! I pulled the needle out, I reached a hand back to touch the back of my head, it felt like something was there. Just as my hand was about to touch it, but I jerked it away as the door opened and Tommy came in.  
  
"Where am I?" I asked him. I was scared, I had no idea what was going on, it had all happened so fast and I felt like everything had passed me by in a blur. I wanted something to calm my nerves, a drink, drug anything! He sat down on the bed next to me.  
  
"The real world. It's not 2000 as you thought it was, it's closer to 2200. Come with me and I'll show you around." He stood up. For a moment I just stared at him, had he just said 2200? After a moment I followed him out of the room and up a ladder, when we got to the top he turned to face me, walking backwards.  
  
"You are on the hovercraft the Nebuchadnezzar, this is the core, it's where we hack into the Matrix. Over by the console is Morpheus and Tank." Both turned at the sound of his voice and the one called Tank grinned, Neo walked over to a woman.  
  
"And this is Trinity."  
  
"The Trinity?! The one who hacked into the IRS d-base?" She asked. Trinity nodded.  
  
"I always knew you were a chick." Neo laughed at that and Trinity grinned, then Morpheus came over to them.  
  
"You want to know what the Matrix is?" He asked, I nodded. And he sat me down in one of the reclining seats. He held my head down as Trinity strapped my feet down.  
  
"This will feel a little strange." He said. They shoved something into the back of my head, my mouth opened wide in a half scream, half yawn. Then I was inside what looked like a white room, a moment later Morpheus joined me, he sat down in one of the red leather armchairs, in front of an old television.  
  
"This is the world that you know." He flicked the television on. Pictures of the world flashed by on it, after a few minutes he turned it off. He looked at me from behind his mirrored sunglasses.  
  
"It's not real, it's the world that has been put there to keep humans happy. This is the world as it is today." He switched the TV on again, this time the pictures that showed were of a dark depressing place, then suddenly they were standing in the middle of it.  
  
"Welcome to the desert of the real." Morpheus said, spreading his arms wide to encompass all that surrounded them.  
  
"All of humanity celebrated when we created AI, they in turn created more and better AI. We are not sure exactly what happened, but what we do know for certain is that it was us that scorched the sky, the sun was their main energy source at the time and it was believed at the time that they could not survive without the energy of the sun. All throughout history we have used machines in our everyday lives." He looked up at the blackened sky.  
  
"Fate it seems is not without a sense of irony. The human body generates more bioelectricity than a 120-volt battery and over 25,000 BTU's of body heat, mixed with a form of fusion, the machines now have all the energy they will ever need. There are huge fields, hundreds of them, where human beings are no longer born, we are grown. I wouldn't believe it, until I saw the fields for myself, I watched them liquefy the dead so that they could be fed intravenously to the living. What is the Matrix? Control, it is a computer generated world, built to keep humans docile, so that we cane be changed into this." He held up a battery. Strangely, although a part of my mind screamed that this was impossible, I knew that he was telling the truth, calculating in my head was kind of hard, I had never been good at math.  
  
"Thousands of people? All stuck in there?" I asked. He was about to reply when an alarm blared. Then I was sitting in the chair back on the Neb, Neo pulled whatever it was out of my head.  
  
"Sentinels." Was all Trinity said. Morpheus rushed up to the cockpit after her, I followed Tommy over to stand behind Tank.  
  
"What's a sentinel?" I asked.  
  
"A machine, it's used to find ships and destroy them." Tommy whispered. Tank flicked a couple of switches and the monitors died. He opened a lid over a small red button.  
  
"EMP armed." He said into his headpiece.  
  
"EMP?" I whispered.  
  
"Electro Magnetic Pulse, it's the only thing we have that will stop them." Tank explained. They waited in tense silence for a few minutes, then the sentinels apparently went away.  
  
"Well that was great fun, Tommy. But I take it that these 'sentinel' things are not to be messed with." I said. He grinned at me and nodded.  
  
"Stay away from them if at all possible and call me Neo, not Tommy." He said. I stared at him, then grinned. Neo turned to go up to the cockpit as Morpheus called him.  
  
"Want a drink?" Tank asked. I swung around to face him. Hell, yes! I wanted a drink, but I wasn't so sure it was a good idea, as much as I hated the idea I could see myself going down the same path dad had.  
  
"You read my mind." I said, grinning at him. Things would be different here, I could control how much I had, I nodded my head eagerly and took the cup he offered me, in one swallow I emptied it, then I coughed and gagged.  
  
"Fuck! Is this stuff poison or what?" I asked, Neo came back to them, glaring at Tank.  
  
"Good work, do you know how old she is? She's probably never even drank beer, never mind this sludge!" He said. Tank just shrugged his shoulders grinning, as I finally got my breath back.  
  
"That's what you think, brother dear." I croaked, past the burning in my throat. I wanted more of it and I held out the cup for him to fill it up again, but Neo gave me a weird look as he took the cup from me.  
  
"Enough! You need to get some sleep tomorrow you start training." He said. I glared at him and for a moment I actually hated him. But I shrugged my shoulders and walked away, I knew that I'd be back later, when he was asleep. But after I made my way down the ladder, I knew I needed something more. On our tour Tomm-Neo had showed me the medbay, they'd be sure to have something in there. I made my way down there, no one was in there and I snuck over to the medical cabinet, which wasn't locked. Inside I found what I was looking for, a box of valium, glancing back over my shoulder to make sure no one there, I slipped them up the sleeve of my sweater. Then I went to the mess hall and grabbed a cup of water, went back to my room, where I put a bunch of them in my mouth and swallowed them with the water. After about fifteen minutes I could feel them working and I lay back on the bed, feeling totally relaxed, but after about an hour I wanted nothing more than to get some more of that drink that Tank had given me earlier, I pulled myself to my feet and made my way back to the core. The only one there was Tank and I stumbled over to him, he turned at my approach, I ignored his look, as I slung one arm over his shoulder. "Got anymore of that wonderful drink?" I asked, except the way I was it came out sounding more like.  
  
"Gf aymur o ta wnnful drik?" He stared at me.  
  
"I think that you've had enough, Black." He said. At his words, I lurched away from him and glared at him.  
  
"You don't think I can handle it?! You want it all for yourself!" I shouted. I pummelled him with my fists and then landed a good one to his eye.  
  
"Give it to me!" I screamed at him. I grabbed the cup that Neo had set on the edge of one of his consoles and drank that, then seeing that he was trying to hide the jug I grabbed it from his hands and made my way back to my room, taking swallows out of it as I went, when I got back to my room I collapsed on my bed and drank the rest of it. Then I laid back and went to sleep. I woke to someone banging on the door, I rolled over. Jesus, I felt like my mouth was filled with sand. I tripped over the jug on my way to the door. Where the hell did that come from? I wonder. I opened the door and winced as it creaked loudly, Tank stood outside, a grim look on his face and sporting a black eye.  
  
"Shit! What'd you do to yourself?" I whispered. He opened his mouth as if he was going to answer, then he obviously changed his mind.  
  
"Time for training, come on." Was all he said. I followed him up to the core where he plugged me in. I don't remember it hurting this much the last time. Tank didn't say anything as he loaded me up, shit it hurt, like a thousand needles being driven through my skull at once, as my mind was gilled with more information than you can imagine. My eyes opened and for a moment I sat there then I lurched upward, pulling the spike in my head, holding one hand over my stomach and one over my mouth, I leaned over the edge of the chair. Tank brought a bucket over and put it next to the chair, then he went back to his seat and waited for me to finish puking my guts out, then I collapsed back in the chair.  
  
"Christ! One cup of that stuff does this to me?! Why did you let me drink it?" I asked him. He shook his head.  
  
"If you're going to drink it you have to be prepared for the consequences, I know I did." He said. I couldn't identify the look in his eyes.  
  
"What consequences? You're the one who gave it to me, why am I the one who's dying?"  
  
"Ready for the next round?" Was all he said.  
  
"Like I have a choice." After another few hours, Neo joined us, he stood over me, grinning down at me.  
  
"Show me what you've learned." He said. Then we were both inside a dojo like room, Neo stood in front of me.  
  
"This place is just like the matrix, what you need to know is that just like a computer program the rules can be bent, some can even be broken. Now hit me.if you can." He said. Ok, hit him and you can go back to your room and die in peace I thought. But he seemed to know what I was going to do before I did it, he stopped me in my tracks every time. Then I did what I'd been threatening to do since I'd woken up that morning, I vomited all over him. For a moment he stared down at his shirt, then at me.  
  
"I think that we should continue this tomorrow." He said. Then we were sitting back in the chairs on the Neb, now that my stomach had calmed down a bit, my head felt like it had a million voices screaming in it. I knew that if I could get some more of that drink, or some more lithium then it'd stop, Neo and looked at me for a moment.  
  
"First thing in the morning, we do this again." Was all he said, as I left the core, to go back to my room passing by the mess hall to get some water. As soon as I got back, I searched for the package of lithium when I eventually found it, I all but ripped it open to get at its contents, just as I was about to put them in my mouth a voice interrupted me.  
  
"Do you really want to do that?" It asked me. I whirled and nearly fell over, as my head didn't catch up to me fast enough. Tank stood behind me, he had that look in his eyes again.  
  
"Why does it matter to you what I do?!" I snapped angrily. Was this ship filled with nosy people, or what? He walked toward me and held out his hand. I didn't know what he wanted me to do, until he spoke again.  
  
"What are you going to do when there all gone? Steal some more, how long do you think it's going to take for someone else to notice them missing? You asked me earlier what happened to my eye. Well you punched me, last night, after taking some of those, you wanted some more to drink and you wouldn't take no for an answer." He said.  
  
"After it's gone I won't need anymore, I'll be fine. Just this one and I'll be fine. It's just been a tough few days." I replied.  
  
"How many times have you told yourself that it's 'just one'? When has it ever been 'just one'?" He asked.  
  
"What would you know about it?! I'm not like the others, they can do this, I can't. You don't know what it's like. They get up in the morning and everything's fine, I get up in the morning and all I want to do is kill myself. I doust if you've ever felt like that."  
  
"Actually I have. It might have been a while, but not so long ago I wanted to kill myself to. You don't have to go on like this. So I'm going to ask you again if you really want to take them?" He said gently. After a moment, I shook my head and put the caps into his outstretched hand, then I sat down on the bed, he joined me.  
  
"Why is it so hard? What am I going to do tomorrow?" I whispered to him.  
  
"Don't worry about tomorrow, all you need to think about is today. Take it one day at time, today is more important than tomorrow. Now try to get some sleep, my shift is over and my rooms just across the way from you. If you need anything, something to eat some water, to talk or even if you just want the company just come on over. Ok?" He said, as he stood up. I nodded as I lay down on the bed, amazingly, even though my head still ached I felt better than I had in a long time.  
  
"All you have to do is ask." He said as he left my room. 


	3. family part 3

Family Part 3  
  
I felt like I'd been tossing and turning all night, eventually I realised that I wasn't going to get any sleep and Tanks words came back to me, I walked across the way and knocked on his door, almost instantly he opened it, when he saw it was me he stepped back.  
  
"Come on in." He invited. I just stood there, why was he being so nice to me? Especially after I'd punched him.  
  
"Can't seem to get to sleep." I mumbled. He pointed to one of the two chairs in the room.  
  
"Yeah, that happens. Want to talk about it?" He asked. I shook my head and stared at the floor.  
  
"I don't know what's going on, I kind of feel like I've been taken out of a sinking ship, only to be put into a sinking life boat and that I'm given a bucket to bail the water out, instead of bailing though, I'm wondering how the fuck I'm supposed to make the bucket work." I said.  
  
"That's how I felt to, at the start. All you've got to do is ask for help with how to deal with all this and you're doing that now. I won't lie to you, the first few days are going to be really hard, but you'll come out the other end a stronger person because of it. Instead of taking a drug or a drink you talk to someone about how you're feeling, even if you think it's stupid." He paused for a moment, as I glanced up at him.  
  
"Trust me it isn't and when you talk about it, you'll feel better about it. You were right though, what you said earlier, about people not understanding, unless they've actually been there they won't. I want you to know that I have been there and done that, so you can always talk to me about anything." He glanced at the ancient clock on the wall, as he stood up.  
  
"I've got to up, got the next shift. Want to join me?" He asked. I nodded and followed him up the ladder. But a part of me wanted to know what he wanted in return for his helping me through this, I didn't want to ask though. Neo sat behind the console, with a blank look on his face, he didn't even seem to be looking at the monitors. When he saw us, he stood up.  
  
"I was beginning to wonder if you'd forgotten." He joked.  
  
"By the way, if you do anything to her I'll kill you." Then he climbed down the ladder.  
  
Tank pulled up a second chair for me and sat down at the console, the green symbols that were on the screen made no sense to me, but he seemed to know what they meant, he gestured to it.  
  
"That's the Matrix, people minds, houses cars, building etc." He said.  
  
"So where did you get your name from?" He asked.  
  
"From an ordinary playing card the Queen of Spades. Tommy - I mean Neo thought me how to play that game. So I took a name that I thought I'd like." I replied, I clenched my hands into fists, hoping that he wouldn't notice that my hands were shaking.  
  
"How about you, how'd you get your name?" He grinned at me for a moment.  
  
"My father got to name my brother Dozer, and my mother named me. After earth machines, I guess they wanted people to know that we were fully home grown or something." He said.  
  
"I didn't know that you had a brother. Does he work on another ship?" I asked. He looked away for a moment, then back at me.  
  
"He died, a few months after we got Neo out of the Matrix, a guy called Cyphur who was part of the crew betrayed us to the agents. He killed two other members of the crew, pulled their plugs while they were still in the Matrix, Their names were Switch and Apoc and another was killed in the Matrix, his name was Mouse and he was our programmer."  
  
"I'm, sorry, I didn't mean to."  
  
"It's ok you didn't know. So what is between you and Neo anyway?" He asked  
  
"He's my brother, or was, in the Matrix I mean." I said. He stared at me for a moment.  
  
"I didn't know that. That explains it."  
  
"Explains what?"  
  
"Why he wanted to get you out so badly, he kept telling Morpheus that you were an excellent programmer and that we needed a new one after we lost Mouse." For a while we just sat in silence, then I had an idea, I took one of his many disk, this one a blank and put it into one of the drives in the computer he wasn't using. I began typing furiously, a few hours later I was ready. I handed over the disk to him.  
  
"Can you load me into the construct?" I asked him.  
  
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" He said. I nodded, grinning.  
  
"Yeah, I get the feeling that I can build it up a lot easier on the inside."  
  
"Ok, what is that you're going to do?" He asked as he plugged me in.  
  
"I'm going to just assume that as the operator you've been watching me for a while now, so you probably know that I like to rollerblade. So I want to go in and build the perfect rollerblading place and then I'm going to teach them how to rollerblade." I said, as he loaded me up. The I was inside the construct, wearing jeans, t-shirt and a pair of state of the art rollerblades and good ones at that. I took out my mobile phone and flipped it open.  
  
"Now this is going to be fun, load up that disk I gave you, Tank." I said. A moment later, runways and ramps appeared around me. I hung up the phone and then I ran down the long runway I was on, building up speed, remembering what Neo had told me earlier, the rules in here can be bent, so I just got faster and faster as I headed toward the first ramp, which wasn't that high, it was just the buildup to bigger and better ones. I shot over it and then I was in front of the next one, picture a rollercoaster rails in your mind, that's what this was like, just one big ring, I grinned as I thought about going on it. By the time I was finished, I was absoulutely breathless, I wanted to go again, but I stopped and flipped open the phone again.  
  
"Time to leave this place, Tank." I said. I was grinning as he plugged me out.  
  
"That was great, man you should have been there!" I swaid excitedly.  
  
"I think watching was bad enough, I was sure you were going to fall off that big one, how'd you pull that off?" He asked.  
  
"Build up enough speed and I remember what Neo said, the rules can be bent or broken." I stopped speaking as Morpheus came up to the core.  
  
"Build up enough speed for what?" He asked.  
  
"Rollerblading, you ever tried it?" I asked. I could hear Tank trying to stop his laughter, I knew what he was laughing at, I couln't quite picture Morpheus on them. When he shook his head, I gave a vicious grin.  
  
"Tomorrow you're going to learn." Then I added his favourite words.  
  
"Someday it could save your life and you know I'm right, you never know, you might even have fun." I said. He didn't look so sure, but he couldn't disagree with my reasoning and he knew it. Neo and Trinity joined us.  
  
"Ready to go again?" Neo asked me.  
  
"Yes and after we're done I have something that you're going to do, been working on it all night." I said. He looked at Morpheus in confusion for a moment, Morpheus just shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"If I have to do it, then so do you and Trinity." He said. Tank plugged us both in and we were in the dojo again, instantly I leaped at him and once again he knocked me aside, but I was up again in a second. We fought for a while, then he stepped back, indicating that we were finished.  
  
"Tank, load the jump program." He said. The dojo disappeared and a building rushed up beneath our feet. He turned to look at me, from behind his glasses. "Fear, doubt, disbelief, let it all go." He said. Then he ran at the edge of the building and leaped, his trenchcoat billowing out behind him.  
  
"Ok, you must think I'm insane. Wait I know that's already true, ah what the hell, the worst that can happen is I get my guts splattered. What you can do, I can do better." I muttered. Then I ran at the edge of the building and jumped, or tried to my foot caught on the raised up edge and I fell, straight down, I40 floors and I screamed all the way, the ground stretched as I hit it and spat me right back out, when I crashed back to earth it felt like I'd been hit by a bus. A moment later neo stood next to me.  
  
"So does this mean I fail?" I asked. Then we were back on the Neb, Morpheus was giving me one of his looks.  
  
"Well at least I tried, I'd just like to point out that I don't usually do something this suicidal, like jumping from one 150 floor building to another and whatever you do DO NOT look down." I replied, they laughed.  
  
"Now that all that's out of the way, it's my turn." I said. Morpheus sighed, he had obviously been hoping I'd forget. Tank loaded us all in, a huge grin on his face, once more we were inside the construct, albeit a very changed construct. Tank had even added in rollerblades and safety equipment for the others, I held up a pair.  
  
"Put these on, then we'll get started." I said.  
  
"How do I put this on?" Neo asked me, holding up a pair of knee protectors. I shrugged my shoulders.  
  
"I don't know, you never saw fit to actually introduce me to safety equipment, just the blades, remember?" I smirked as he struggled to get them on, eventually though Trinity who had figured it out a while ago helped him get them on. The three of them, tried to keep their balance, on the rollerblades, as I skated around them.  
  
"The first thing you need to learn is how to balance on them, when your just standing. Like so." I demonstrated how I wanted them to do it and it took them a few minutes before the got that one right. Then we moved on up from there, eventually I had them doing a fairly easy roll on them, but they still had to learn how to turn and stop. I ran away from them, then turned sharply and rushed directly back at Morpheus. He didn't move, but I could see the look on his face and Neo and Trinity's faces. With a slight skidding sound, I came to a stop my face inches from his.  
  
"And that is how you stop. You put one blade sideways on the ground, behind the other one. NOT in front, unless you want to break your neck. To if you want to go left, you turn your right foot, slightly in that direction and use your left foot to move, and vice-verse." I said. Then I stepped back and watched them fall around the place for the next hour, it took them a while to learn that if you wanted to stop, u didn't try to make you foot one with the ground, but rather did it gently.  
  
"If you want to slow yourself down, but not stop, you do the same as if you were going to stop, except you touch and then lift your foot of the groud a few times until you get the speed that you want." I demonstrated that one as well and then let them try it, a LOT of times.  
  
"Ok, I think that's enough for now." I said, after Trinity crashed into a wall for the umpteenth time. Tank was sniggering as he unplugged us.  
  
"OW! That hurt." Neo said. I glanced at him.  
  
"I told you how to stop, I even showed you. But noooyou had to do it your way, I didn't know that you had a thing for Morpheus." I said, grinning.  
  
"What? I don't!" He said.  
  
"Oh really then why did you keep trying to tangle yourself in his embrace?!" I asked sarcastically.  
  
"I don't think Trinity knew either." Trinity, Tank and Morpheus were in stitches at the bantering back and forth. 


	4. family part 4

Part four  
  
Then we went down to the mess hall to get some food, Neo and me arguing all the way down.  
  
"If your driving is anything like your blading then you should get a bus pass, or better yet a good pair of sneakers." I said.  
  
"And you need to use safety equipment on those things." He shot back.  
  
"Like I said, the person i.e. you never actually gave me any, only the blades." I smacked him on the head, as we walked in the door of the mess hall. I stared at the bowl of goop in front of me and made a face, a drink would make this go down better. But I picked up my spork and started eating, I could get a drink later on, it tasted like snot. No one spoke, they just ate their delicious dinners, then once it was all gone, they moved off toward wherever they had to go. Tank stopped next to me, after everyone else had left.  
  
"It wouldn't make it taste any better and where would taking a drink lead to?" He said. I glared up at him.  
  
"What are you a mind reader?" I snapped. He chuckled.  
  
"No, but I've been there and thought that taking a drink or a drug would make everything go down a little better. It doesn't, I gotta go back up, I think that you are on kitchen duty." He said. I stared around the mess hall, it looked like the place hadnt been cleaned up since the ship was made, I sighed this was going to take forever. An hour later the place look reasonable enough and for the first time since Tank had stopped me from taking the lithium, I realised that I had forgotten to think about poor me and what I was going to do about tomorrow. I walked out of the mess hall and went up to the core, at the end of the ladder Trinity was trying to show Neo how to weld and of course I had to open my big mouth.  
  
"I wouldn't give that to him if I were you, he'll probably blow up the ship." I said. They turned at the sound of my voice.  
  
"No I won't." Neo said indignantly.  
  
"Matchsticks." Was all I said to him. He winced, he used to smoke and he always burned his fingers on his matches.  
  
"This will be different." He said. After a while Trinity left him and I followed her, Morpheus seemed to be waiting for me.  
  
"Ready to spar." It was a rhetorical question, but I nodded anyway, thinking back to the session I had with Neo the day before and hoping that I didn't repeat the performance. Trinity was about to plug us in when a buzzing noise came from down below, then a snap and Neo cursed, I grinned at the Trinity.  
  
"Told ya." I said, as she pushed the spike home. Then I was in the dojo facing Morpheus, he didn't say anything just got into a fighting stance and waited for me to attack him. I didn't want to disappoint so I ran at him and launched a number of punches and slaps at him, but he was as good as Neo had been and shrugged of my attempts as if I was swatting him with a newspaper. His fist hit me in the stomach and I went down. He stopped and looked down at me.  
  
"You're not moving fast enough." He said. I leapt to my feet.  
  
"This is like fighting my father, except his punches actually hurt." I shot back. He paused and for the briefest of moment his eyes registered shock and question, then he just shrugged his shoulders, time to find out what I had meant later on. He came at me hitting me with a roundhouse I went down then he grabbed me around the waist, everything Tank had downloaded into my brain left me and I panicked, I struggled against his grasp, dad used to grab me in the same way when he.  
  
"No!" My voice was barely audible, he didn't let me go. I jerked my elbow back into his stomach, but he didn't release me, I continued with my useless struggling.  
  
"Let me go, dad!" I screamed, fear and loathing evident in my voice. He let me go and I moved to the opposite end of the room, hugging myself with my arms, a moment later I was back on the Neb, and as soon as Trinity pulled the spike out of my head, I ran toward the ladder got down it as fast as I could. Neo was still there, trying to fix the damage he'd done.  
  
"Hey, want to help me?" He asked. I ignored him as I flew past on my way toward my room, once I was inside I curled myself up on my bed, facing the wall, pulling my knees to my chest.  
  
Up in the core, Neo climbed up the ladder, a confused look on his face.  
  
"What was that all about? What happened?" He asked. For a moment no one moved, then Morpheus moved toward him.  
  
"We were sparring and I grabbed her, she struggled against me and for a moment I thought that she was just trying to free herself from me so she could try and get the upper hand." He paused, then spoke again.  
  
"Then she screamed at me to let her go, I think that she thought I was her father, because she called me 'dad'." He said. But Neo hadn't heard the last of what Morpheus had said, he was already down the ladder and rushing toward his sisters room. He knocked on the door, and for a moment I thought that if I didn't answer him he'd go away, but then he opened the door and came in anyway. I wanted to tell him to fuck off and leave me alone, but another part me wanted him to stay. He shut the door and sat down on the edge of my bed. He sat in silence for a moment.  
  
"What happened?" He asked. I knew he wasn't really referring to the sparring session, obviously Morpheus had told him what had happened.  
  
"Nothing, I guess I'm just a little tired or something." I replied. He sighed, then I could feel his hand touching my back, I jerked away from him.  
  
"Something must have happened, you nearly broke your neck trying to get down here. Tell me, I want to know." He murmured. I turned to face him, tears were streaming down my face.  
  
"We were sparring and Morpheus grabbed me, dad.he didn't just hit me, he used to do other stuff as well and he'd grab me the same way." I gulped for breath as I cried harder.  
  
"Fighting against him did no good, he's stronger than I am and he always got what he wanted in the end anyway." I whispered. I didn't want to look at his face, but when I did I could see the look in his eyes.  
  
"Christ, what.how long?" He asked  
  
"For a long time, he was doing it for a long time before you got me out of there the first time." I said. Anger flashed across his face, then it was replaced by sadness, he pulled me into his arms and I sobbed against his chest, for what seemed like forever.  
  
"It's never going to happen again, not by him, not by anyone, I promise I will never let anyone hurt you again." He said. I didn't say anything to that, after a while when I had stopped crying, I looked up at him and for the first time in a long time I felt safe, he smiled down at me gently.  
  
"Want to go back up?" He asked. I didn't really want to, what did the others thin of me now? But I knew that sooner or later I was going to have to face them, so I nodded. He took me by the hand and led me from the room, when we got up to the core, instead of the looks of derision or disgust that I was expecting, everyone was being nice.  
  
"Are you alright?" Morpheus asked in a concerned voice.  
  
"Yeah, sorry I ran off." I mumbled.  
  
"Don't worry about it." He said, glancing at Neo, who stood next to me. Tank was looking at me, a questioning look in his eyes, I nodded my head and smiled, trying to make him understand that I was alright, I didn't feel like smiling though, I felt like my feelings were now on show for everyone to see. Neo put his arm around my shoulder and to my surprise I didn't flinch away.  
  
"How about you and me go into the Matrix and do something fun?" He asked me. Morpheus didn't seem to agree to that, but Neo gave him a look, that clearly said 'we're going'. Morpheus eventually nodded his permission, Neo turned to me and I nodded that I would go with him. Morpheus plugged us in and off we went. I was wearing my old sneakers, black jeans, black t-shirt and corduroy jacket. Neo wore all black clothes including a pair of glasses.  
  
"So what do you want to do?" He asked me. I shrugged my shoulders, I didn't think that going to the Talon for a drink was a good idea. What did non-drinkers do?  
  
"How about that?" He said, pointing toward a carnival. I nodded, I don't think that I'd ever been to a carnival and I wondered what people did there, I didn't want to ask though, so I followed behind him. He bought some candy floss and we started eating it as we made our way around the fair, there were loads of rides and of course I wanted to go on the rollercoaster first, Neo didn't seem to keen on the idea, but I eventually talked him into it and we got on, front row. Almost as soon as we started moving he closed his eyes tightly.  
  
"I thought that you were the One? You gonna let a little ride scare you?" I asked. He opened his eyes to glare at me.  
  
"No I'm-" then the car started flying down a steep hill, to move into a big circle and he started screaming, a moment later I joined him. What's a rollercoaster without screaming? When it finally came to a stop we were both laughing.  
  
"Told ya it'd be fun." I said. He just grinned at me.  
  
"How about some more candyfloss?" He asked.  
  
"Sure I'll go get it, be right back." I said and hurried off toward one of the many stands selling the stuff. As I made my way back with the two sticks of candyfloss, someone grabbed me from behind, I dropped the candyfloss and tried to break free from whoever it was, but he held my arm in an iron grip. Needless to say after all that had happened today, I freaked out.  
  
"Come on honey, you know that I'm the one for you." The man said, as he pulled me closer. I jerked my arm again, but it did no good, he wrapped both of his arms around me and then he kissed me full on the lips.  
  
"Let me go!" I screamed at him. He didn't hear me; or he chose not to listen, I don't know which. Neo must have heard me because all of a sudden he was beside me, he belted the man so hard that he went flying backwards to land on his back on the dirt. Neo turned to me, concern in his eyes.  
  
"You ok?" He asked. I nodded, all of a sudden the fun we had been having seemed to evaporate  
  
"I'm sorry, I should have gone with you to get it." He said, as we were heading back to the exit. I shrugged my shoulders, trying to show my indifference to what had just happened, he didn't say anything else after. But he could probably tell that it had scared me badly, because I was trembling, he slung his arm over my shoulder. 


	5. family part 5

It was nearly a week later when Morpheus told me that I was going to see that Oracle, I didn't know who or what an Oracle was, but it looked like I was about to find out. We were already in the Matrix, Trinity was driving with Morpheus riding shotgun, I sat in the back with Neo.  
  
"We're here, Kat, come with me." My thought were interrupted my Morpheus' voice. We rode up in the elevator in silence. I was about to ask him if he was going to knock on the door, when a woman opened it from the other side.  
  
"You're right on time, Katana. Morpheus, wait here." She said, then she led me into a kitchen where another woman sat at a table smoking a cigarette. She stood up as I entered and came over to me; she held my face in her hands, making humming sounds.  
  
"You won't make it out this time, but they won't leave you. You must find the strength inside yourself." She said. What the hell does that mean? I wondered. Then she turned and picked a plate up of the table.  
  
"Take a brownie." She said. She sat down at the table again and ignored me, it was fairly obvious the meeting, or whatever you want to call it was over, so I left the kitchen and rejoined Morpheus, he stood up as I came out.  
  
"What she told you was only for you, tell no one." He said.  
  
"To tell someone I'd need to understand what she told me in the first place." I muttered under my breath. I followed him back down to the car, we rode back towards the safe house in silence, no one asked me what the Oracle had said and I didn't bring it up. That is until we were broadsided by another car, which was being driven by an agent, the engine died. Instantly Morpheus started barking orders, we split up and started running. Running away from agents is your only hope, but what the hell do you do when the only direction they're not coming at you is above? For a moment I froze, but then I ran right at the one in front of me, what the hell, might as well give it a shot. I'm dead. My mind screamed. I felt a prick in my neck and my first thought was that some stupid insect had bitten me, but I knew that wasn't the case when I crashed to the ground. What the fuck was going on? I wondered, I thought that I had tripped and was cursing my shit luck, because it's not a good thing to happen when agents are all around you, an agent leaned close to my ear.  
  
"Good try, Miss. Anderson." He whispered. I wanted to tell him to fuck off, but the only thing that escaped my lips was a sort of half moan half grunt, then he put some kind of a hood over my head and picked me up like I was a sack of potatoes.  
  
By then everyone else had made it back to the real world, but as soon as Neo found out that I sister had been captured by agents he wanted to go back in.  
  
"We don't know where she is yet. Until we do you'll do her no good if you get yourself caught." Morpheus reasoned. Neo didn't like it, but he had to agree that Morpheus was right, for the next few hours he walked between Tank, as the other man searched the Matrix for Katana's signal, and the chair that his sister still sat in, her body kept bucking and jerking, blood soaking her clothes, Trinity was trying to hold her steady. Suddenly a message flashed on one of the screens 'INCOMING TRANSMISSION'. Morpheus came over to them.  
  
"Is it another ship?" He asked. Tank shook his head.  
  
"No, it's coming from inside the Matrix. Do you want me to put it through?" Tank said. Morpheus nodded; knowing that the operator would scramble the transmission, ensuring that whoever it was would not be able to find them. Tank hit a couple of keys and the screen faded from black into a picture of Katana, naked, blindfolded and handcuffed to a bed, she was covered in cuts and bruises. Then some agents moved into the picture, their suits faded away, they moved towards Katana one of them held her legs, while the other climbed on top of her, her mouth opened as with great force he rammed himself into her. Katana's mouth opened in a scream and they could hear her begging, pleading with them to stop.  
  
"Give us what we want and we'll let her go." A voice, obviously an agents said over the sounds of her howls. The picture faded, Neo stood staring at the now blank screen, his face a mask of anger and sadness. He strode over to the chairs, his intent clear. Morpheus turned to Tank, one eyebrow raised in silent question.  
  
"I have the co-ordinates right here." He said quietly. Morpheus nodded once, went over to Trinity whispered a few words to her and then he to joined Neo, Tank loaded them both in.  
  
In the compound where the agents were keeping me, I tried to block out what they were doing to me. Blood drenched the bed I was on, finally he got of me and I thought that it was over, but then another took his place and it started all over again. He kept slamming, ripping into me, I screamed even louder tears soaking the blindfold over my eyes, suddenly he pulled himself out of me and stood up, I didn't dare to hope that it was really over. But no more of them took over the torture they had been putting me through for what felt like years. I heard whispered conversation.  
  
"Here.now.her." I had no idea what they were talking about, nor did I care. I just wanted to die, I curled myself up on the bed and lay that way for a very long time, I could hear what sounded like a fight going on outside, but I ignored it. A while later I heard someone coming into the room and I knew that it was going to start again. I could feel somebody covering me with a blanket or something and then touched my shoulder, I jerked away.  
  
"Don't touch me!" I shrieked, as I huddled against the wall.  
  
"Katana, it's me, Neo." I barely recognised my brothers' voice, and I prayed that this wasn't some cruel joke that the agents were playing on me. I wanted to bury my face in his chest and cry like a baby, but I was afraid that if I did he'd turn out to be an agent. He kept speaking quietly to me, I'm not sure what he said, eventually I let him hold me and I sobbed unrestrainedly. After a long time Morpheus came in.  
  
"We have to go before more agents come, Kat." He said. Neo nodded and helped me to stand up with his help, my knees buckled underneath me and I crashed against him. He picked me up gently in his arms and followed Morpheus, I rested my head against him, I fell asleep.  
  
"How can they do that? I thought you said it wasn't possible." I heard Neo's voice.  
  
"It shouldn't be, but her system shows evidence of some kind of drug that we've never seen before. Apparently it causes damage done in the Matrix to affect a person here as well." Morpheus said. I slowly came back to consciousness, to feel the agony that I was in, I groaned loudly. They both turned at the sound and came over to me, Morpheus stuck a needle in my arm and injected what I presume was a painkiller into me. I looked from one to the other, my gaze resting on neither of them, I didn't want to see the look in their eyes, I heard the door of the medbay opening and closing quietly, as Morpheus left. Neo pulled a chair up by the bed and sat down, he reached out and took my hand in both of his.  
  
"I.I know that what they did to you was terrible and you might think that I don't understand. You're probably right. But I want you to know that I'm here if you want to talk to me." He said. I nodded once before closing my eyes. He sat silently for a moment, thinking that I had gone back to sleep.  
  
"Why.I mean why did they do it to me?" I whispered painfully, tears ran down my face. His head shot up, the look on his told me that he wasn't sure whether to tell me or not.  
  
"They were laying a trap, for me. They knew that if they took you then I wouldn't stop looking for you." He answered.  
  
"They were right, I won't stop, not now, not ever." He looked away from me, but not before that he was crying as well, I was shocked, I don't think I've ever seen him crying before. As I drifted off to sleep, feeling safe again. 


	6. Family part 6

Once again thanx to Scarlet Faerie for her poem 'Blood and Butterflies'.  
  
Btw just a note I changed the name of the main chara, some people thought the name 'Black Lady' was offensive.  
  
***********  
  
You dream in forgotten depth  
  
Crystal walls have now long hidden the fire inside  
  
Waiting to shatter  
  
At the strike of the flint  
  
Becoming that undirected passion  
  
Your reality knitted with mystical perception;  
  
***********  
  
Sleep one of those things that humans cannot live without. If only we could also survive without dreaming. Most people very rarely have nightmares, I on the other hand could not remember a time when I had a pleasant dream. This time it seemed was to be no different. My father beating and raping me. I could not stop them and no one seemed to hear me when I called for help. It seems to me that the gods themselves had abandoned me to whatever fate was in store for me. I know why the agents raped me: they wanted to catch Neo. But why did my father? I do not understand, I never did anything to him, as far as I am aware that would be worthy of such 'punishment'. Is there such a terrible crime that is deserving of this? I do not know. But I do not think so, I hope not. For if there is such a crime, then how many people have suffered the same as I have? I do not want to think of such things, but like I said already my own dreams will not allow it to stop.  
  
************  
  
Dimensional connections that have drawn this soul into the universe.  
  
Tormented loss has torn its way  
  
Into this lifetimes beginnings  
  
And desperate you have held onto the dying stars  
  
Unable to pull away  
  
From the birth of this black hole;  
  
The crack in the eyes that have forever watched you.  
  
Pause for me, dear Egypt  
  
Listen to the music that has spoken to your particles  
  
Do you not hear them singing  
  
Of what you are?  
  
The moonlight in so many darkness  
  
Chasing the shadows through the wastelands of the udderworld  
  
And making your own  
  
*************  
  
This is what I think, are dreams remind us of things that we are supposed to remember, but it also shows us that which we can never forget, no matter how much we want to. The latter is the kind of dream that I was having right now, and I desperately wanted to wake up. My fathers face changed into that of an agent and then he split, becoming two. I writhed and moaned in my sleep, for I knew what was coming next. And I had no desire to revisit it. Someone shook me awake.  
  
"What?" I mumbled. I looked up into the concerned eyes of my brother.  
  
"You were having a nightmare, I didn't think that you'd want to have any more." He said. I nodded sleepily.  
  
"You're right, thank you." I closed my eyes again. Almost instantly I was asleep again and this time I didn't have nightmares, in fact I don't think I dreamt at all.  
  
***********  
  
To tease and dissipate.  
  
Become for a second, dear firespirit  
  
Become the winds that once coursed through the Sahara  
  
And the many times you danced with the hands of time  
  
Creating your own waterfalls  
  
Of blood and butterflies  
  
So sing again, old friend  
  
Remember your heart holds the keys to those cages  
  
And let it beat  
  
As the biorhythms sway  
  
Knowing the laughter in your soul can awaken the deepest slumber  
  
And you were born  
  
As one of the free.  
  
*************  
  
And so another fic finished phew *wipes brow* yeah I know it took me a long time. 


End file.
